"starting point" next. the u.s. is deploying 400 troops, 2 air defense missile batteries to defend turkey against syria. we'll have a live report this morning. ambassador susan rice takes herself out of the running for secretary of state. why did she do it? who will replace hillary clinton? president obama and john boehner meet for 50 minutes, but didn't walk out with a fiscal cliff deal. but they didn't reach a deal, what's next? why are these ukrainian lawmakers throwing punches. glad we're not there. >> not there yet. friday, december 14th. "starting point" begins now. good morning, everybody. our starting point, a developing story about syria's ongoing civil war and a new role for the

united states. leon panetta signed an order to send two patriot missile batteries to turkey along with 400 u.s. troops to help the country defend against any u.s. action by syria. the move was expected as the rebellion destabilizes or begins to destabilize the assad regime. nick paton walsh has the latest for us. nick, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. 400 u.s. troops expected to be on the ground, but this contribution of three total member nations, germany expected to begin ratifying its deployment of two patriot batteries, the netherlands as well. let me give you the back story. the past two months we have seen exchanges, syrian army accused of firing into turkey. turkey returning fire. that sense of host tillity and volatility on the border leading them to ask nato for help and

patriots coming here at this point. expected to be used mostly in the event of missiles being fired and have the ability to take down aircraft as well. we heard from u.s. secretary of defense leon panetta, that the u.s. does have a plan in the event that they see the assad regime use or prepare to use chemical weapons. not clear if patriots will be involved in that. but right now, in the very volatile part of the world, we have u.s. troops potentially on the ground. >> nick paton walsh, thank you for the update. frank discussions, open lines of communication, but no deal. 18 days until the fiscal cliff. president obama and john boehner met just under an hour. after coordinated press releases, both sides assured the american people that communication lines remain open. dana bash is live in washington, d.c. this morning. 50 minutes and sort of a very

milquetoasty kind of statement at the end of it, sounds not good. >> no, not good, considering where we are in the calendacale. i'm told by sources in both parties, a meeting that did not produce any new ideas, more of touching base meeting, the president wanted to talk to the speaker before he went home to ohio, which he still planned to do this weekend, the sources say that the basic problem still is, soledad, after all of the weeks, is democrats still believe republicans have the problem. they need to deal with the debt crisis by raising more revenue, meaning raising more taxes and republicans still think democrats are the problem. they are not offering enough in spending cuts. the issue is, reality, democrats, the president has the most leverage. has had the most leverage, republicans know that. everybody see where is this will probably go. republicans have to give some on the rate increases for the most

wealthy. and the question, when is it most politically advantageous for both sides to agree to that. >> let me ask a question. you have had a chance to talk to two former majority leaders from opposite sides of the aisle what are they saying about where we are and the fact that there will be a deal somewhere soon? >> trent lott and tom daschle, republican and democratic leader, opposite sides of the table four years, working together on tough issues and they pointed out it is certainly possible, of course it is possible. they have to have the political will in to the political leaders and they pointed out that timing on a deal is really key. take a listen. >> very true. the speaker is going to have to make a decision on that, and the president is going to have to make a decision on what he will do in return on spending, and they need to do it on concert. you have to have the winds and

the brass come together. >> maybe hold hands and jump off the cliff together? >> it would be more fun on the way down. at least have you company. >> whether or not that is all going to happen before the ends of the year, really still is an open question. but, soledad, outside a meeting of republicans yesterday, and all of them said that the speaker told them, don't make christmas plans. >> yeah, not a shock either. and i think jumping off a cliff, whether you have hands to hold or no hands to hold is all bad, all the way down. dana bash this morning, appreciate it. diplomatic shocker to update you on after the republican firestorm on the attack in benghazi, susan rice has taken herself out of the running, won't try to succeed secretary of state hillary clinton for that role. president obama talked about ambassador rice's decision last night. >> i hadn't made a decision

about who would be my next secretary of state. no doubt, susan is qualified. other people are qualified as well. her interest is in serving me, but more importantly, in serving the country. could not be prouder of her. she is one of the top members of my national security team. >> she'll meet with the president today, our foreign affairs reporter, elise labott in washington, d.c. break this down what's happening behind the scenes. she said in her resignation note that she's decided to do this for the good of the american people, so there is not this contentious, partisan debate. what's really happening here? >> well, i've talked to some of our aides. she was ready for a fight. she doesn't give up on a fight. tweeted this morning with an op-ed in "the washington post," but over the last couple of days and weeks, her aides and she started to do the math. wasn't just about benghazi anymore, morphed into something else, on other issues back when

she was in the clinton administration, increasingly politicized and wasn't going to stop. so she made the tough decision and also i think, soledad, her aides felt that this detracted from some of the more successful work that she did as u.s. ambassador to the united nations. if you remember, she was instrumental in passing the toughest sanctions ever on iran. pushed for military action in libya and other things. take a listen to what she told nbc news about why she withdraw h her name. >> i didn't want to see a confirmation process that was very prolonged, very politicized, very distracting and very disruptive. because there are so many things we need to get done as a country. >> and, soledad, she has a lot of work to do at the u.n. right now, the u.s. is trying to get a resolution imposing

sanctions on north korea the syria crisis, and right now, the short list for secretary clinton's replacement, down to one man, senator john kerry, who is seen as someone who has a locality of world stature, a lot of relationships with world leaders and certainly as chairman of the senate foreign relations committee has a lot of foreign policy chops and most attractive to the administration, soledad, he's he's i will confirmable. >> elise labott, thank you. that's a very short list. one name on it. >> short list of one. live pictures of a pro president mohamed morsi rally in cairo. she a members of the opposition say the constitution is too islamist and infringes on minority rights. protesting outside the presidential palace right now.

new this morning, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake off the coast of baja. so far, no tsunami warnings. clackamas town center will reopen to shoppers in six hours. that's the mall where a gunman killed two people on tuesday and critically wounded a third before killing himself. a candle-light vigil will be held outside the mall. a funeral for fallen dallas cowboys player jerry brown. brown was killed in a suspected drunk driving accident on saturday. his teammate and friend josh brent was behind the wheel. you are looking at new dashcam video of the wreck released by police along with 911 calls they received in moments after the accident. >> is anybody injured? >> i don't know. i just drove past it. looks like it just happened. a car upside down. >> josh brent is free on half a million dollars bail. he's charged with intoxication manslaughter. so today is the deadline for states to declare whether they

will set up their own health insurance exchanges. 22 states will not do it. in those cases, the affordable care act dictates the federal government comes in and will do it for them. the exchanges will offer consumers an internet based marketplace for purchasing private health insurance plans. so it hasn't come to this in washington, d.c., yet. this brawl broke out on the floor of ukraine's parliament. lots of pushing, shoving, collar grabbing, and the scuffle apparently started after members of ukraine's opposition party accused two of their own members of planning to defect to the ruling party. i guess the good news, it's not partisanship, it's fighting within the party. you know, looking for a silver lining. >> they are talking. not just saying we had frank discussions. >> those are more than frank discussions right there. >> can you imagine if we had video fiscal cliff come to this

and people going at each other. no women at this shot. i looked very closely. what does that say? >> sorry berman. ahead on "starting point" this morning, "black in america" will reair on saturday. and an espn host is questioning the blackness of a star football player robert griffin iii, rg3 on air, what was said and the fallout from that, straight ahead. plus, business news. one more way the fiscal cliff could cost you. what happens to your paycheck immediately if there is no deal in washington? that's next. bring it down, please? better. that's what happens to background noise, when you're making a call on this. this microphone here, picks up the sounds around you and helps turn them down. so when the world gets noisy

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america's natural gas... putting us in control of our energy future, now. welcome back to "starting point." i'm christine romans, minding your business. the s & p 500 snapped a six-day winning streak, despite modelly upbeat economic data. call it the payroll tax cliff. of all the tax issues being negotiated in washington, there is one that many middle class families would certainly feel immediately. the payroll tax holiday that comes directly from your paycheck. payroll taxes fund social security. workers have been getting a break. paying a rate of 4.2%. in 2013, the rate is said to go back up to 6.2%, of everything

you make. take a look at this someone making $50,000 a year will see $19 less in their take home pay per week, starting at the beginning of the year. the payroll tax cut, a piece of the whole tax mess, tax puzzle, could have a direct affect on your paycheck. i'll tell up the stock market up 13% this year. until now, everybody says they'll get it sorted out. i'm starting to get e-mails from strategies who are starting to get nervous again. >> the stock market, going up based on that this is all bluster, but now you think it will start going down? >> i don't know. greg valier, does a note to clients, the financial markets think this will get solved, but the word and mood in washington is it won't. >> let's bring in a former democratic governor of

tennessee. a member of the campaign to fix the debt. he joins us this morning. nice to have you with us, sir. great to see you again. a documentary a couple years ago. >> i remember. >> nice to have you with us today. i want to talk -- christine, stick around. i want to talk about finance 101. the deficit is the gap between the spending and revenue that the government has every single year. the cbo is reporting that the deficit in 2012 is a 1$1.1 trillion which sounds terrible, but it's also gone down over the years, if you look at 2009, 1.4 trillion, 2010, it dropped, 2011 it dropped and 2012 it dropped. why are you focused on fixing the debt at a time when we veal have a low borrowing rate? why focus on fixing the debt instead of the deficit? >> the two of them are really the same thing. you have to fix the deficit in order to get to a more sensible

place with the debt. the difference now, we have these high levels of deficit in the past. and they can't -- the war -- the depression was over. the separation we're in now, with the deficit being driven by an unwillingness no tax and to cut entitlements, no end in site. something that, you know, threatens to undermine the financial stability of the country. a silly place for to us be. it's crazy. >> three pillars of fix the debt. walk us through. >> i think we were talking about first of all doing something -- doing something real about it. making sure that at least 4 trillion in reduction over the course of the next ten years and doing it in a smart way, not walking off the cliff, and causing us really to quite likely move back into recession. plan it out over a period of

time like intelligent adults ought to do. it has to be fair, there has to be entitlement reforms and revenue increases. we need to stop this political wrangling that just looks so silly out here in the country. this is a self-inflected wound. the fiscal cliff we're looking at. we need to get beyond that and get to the real problem, showing the world we know how to run the government of the united states. >> paul krugman in "the new york times" has an interesting op-ed and starts off by saying we are not having a debt crisis and says this is really a political crisis. let me read a bit of it. americans may nod their heads when you attack big government in the abstract, but they strongly support social security, medicare and even medicaid. and he's talking about his framing of the gop. part of the problem, americans have a sense against big government, but when it comes to big government, people don't

want to cut those things of what they think are part of what americans deserve to have. >> i put the blame on that squarely on the political leadership in washington. i think the country is hungry and would response to someone how you fix the whole problem. these are the pieces that you need to put together to get us out of this mess. instead, focused on aspects of the thing, and about whether marginal tax rates should go up or not, and what ought to be done about entitlements in the short term. people respond and will respond in this country, always have responded to someone who honestly tells them what the situation is and has a real proposal, not political in nature. shared sacrifice that solves the problem. we ought to try that. dave wels of "the wall street journal" writes about the risk of cutting the deficit, too much too soon. if you just focused on jobs and could really solve the problem, bring your deficit to zero. if you had a robust job market.

bring unemployment down low enough in the budget geeks their vana critically adjusted deficit should be close to zero when the economy fires on all cylinders. he is like don't worry about debt, don't worry about the deficit, worry about jobs. >> i didn't read that piece, but i don't think anyone believes you can simply grow your way out of this. would you have to have growth rates in the economy that are beyond anything we've experienced over a sustained period of time for long period of time to grow our way out of it. that's an easy way out. this requires taking some hard actions, and i think everyone also agrees we shouldn't go off the cliff. we are in the throes of a very sort of fragile recovery right now. let's do the stuff it takes, space it in over time like a well-run organization would do and give the world some confidence. i would make the point if we really solved this problem, it

would be a stimulus package to the economy greater than anything we tried to do before. $2 trillion sitting in corporate america sitting on the sidelines. a lot of jobs, a lot of investment. if we can present them and the rest of the world with a stable situation and an understandable situation where there is not big things in the road down the road, you will start to see money come in, and a huge stimulus to the economy. >> former governor, fill bresenen, thank you. >> thanks, enjoyed. still ahead, we'll talk about blackness. comments from an espn host talking about washington redskins quarterback rg3. it's -- it's so crazy that i can't even summarize it in a line. but it -- it is a very interesting, and we'll talk about it on the other side of the short break. we're back in just a moment. look in the mirror, sus

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welcome back, everybody. our team this morning. bastian junger, author of a new e-book, called "a world made of blood." we'll talk about that later. will cane, cnn contributor,

columnist for theblaze.com. and we have a former adviser to president clinton and a writer. >> how are you? >> i'm struggling this morning. >> it's friday. >> i'll try to fake it. did you watch the parker. >> he made you watch it. because we'll be talking about it. >> he's now really dealing with this controversial issue about race. talking about the washington redskins quarterback, robert griffin iii, and earlier in the week, rg3 told a recorder he wants to be defined by his work ethic and character and less about race and that prompted parker to wonder what kind of brother rg3 really is. let's play a chunk of that. >> my question, which is just a straight, honest question. is he a brother? or is he a call ball brother?

>> what does that mean? >> he's not real. he's black, but he's not really down with the cause. we all know his wife beyonce, and he's a republican. no information at all. i'm trying to dig deeper into why he has an issue. >> let me say this. i'm uncomfortable with where we just went. >> i love -- i love stephen a. smith. i'm uncomfortable where you just went. our documentary, "black in america," what it was all about. rg3 doesn't fit into parker's sense of what real blackness is. >> like a stereotype. people advocating against stereotypes, stereotyping themselves their own people. >> it's so -- it's so offensive on so many levels. you lined up three white guys to talk about this thing, this term

cornball brother, and i tooked an informal poll, and all my black friends. have you ever heard the term, the answer is unanimously by the way no. it turned robert griffin iii, any sense of individuality, and he wants to be defined by who i am, which is a great afrifricki quarterback. >> he feels like he's dodging the question. are you -- what is the role of race in being this great quarterback? right? and for people of color, it's often a challenge. he wants to say i don't want to be defined by being the black quarterback, but at the same time i want to represent all of the black people who look at me as a great quarterback. mr. parker took some great exception to that, which is sort of a pr effort and -- >> he is trying to take something away from rg3. that is the tone of the conversation. >> is he black? he has the corn rows.

that column there. but he has a white fiancee. but he might be with the gop. >> might be republican. >> stephen smith, never thought in my whole life he would be uncomfortable. who is black in america, my documentary, will reair saturday at 8:00 p.m. and parker, maybe i'll send him a copy of it. still ahead on "starting point," generating lots of buzz, but people say zero dark 30 goes too far into the hunt of osama bin laden. we'll tell you about that straight ahead. nt. nt. nobel laureate in economics, and one of the most cited economists in the world. professor sargent, can you tell me what cd rates will be in two years? no. if he can't, no one can. that's why ally has a raise your rate cd. ally bank.

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." let's begin with john berman with a look at today's top stories. dancing in the streets of pyongyang, toasting the country's first successful satellite launch into space, even though the u.s. government indicates that the north koreans might not have control of the satellite. the north korean government looking at the launch. as leaders call for punishment, insisting that the north koreans have moved one step closer to being able to launch nuclear weapons across the pacific. authorities in birmingham, taking another look at security procedures after a man shot and killed himself inside the federal courthouse. the u.s. marshals said the man

worked in the building and slipped the gun in as he used as employee entrance. no one in the courthouse wasser threatened. an aspiring actor and comic killed after fulg into the roof of the intercontinental hotel in chicago. nicholas wieme was taking pictures on the onion rooftop zone when he fell and became wedged in the chimney. it took hours for firefighters to get to him. pronounced dead 45 minutes after they freed him. surveillance video captured a confrontation between a few young men who police say were arguing over a basketball game. one of the men, as he was leaving, turned and fired a handgun into the train. you see it right there. wounding two people. philadelphia police right now say they are searching for assailants. the university of iowa, the first public university in the

country to ask about their gender identity and sexual orientation on applications. students aren't asked specifically if they are gay, only if they identify with the lesbian, gay, transgender community. this is an optional question that will help the university meet student needs and track retention rates in population. soledad. >> hmm. not sure how i feel about that. i guess in some ways good to be able to provide opportunities, if you have a whatever percentage of gay students, people who are identifying however that question is phrased. but on the other hand, it seems weird to me. crickets. okay. >> i would say the university of iowa is the first public institution to do this, and i'm not sure i would have worded the question exactly the way they worded it. but i think it's a good idea to know what -- >> how would you word the question? >> are you gay or lesbian?

they seemed to have made it more complicated than it needs to be. >> why not just ask the question you want the answer to, rather than asking around the question. ultimately and you don't have to answer. you could just ignore the question. >> it could be held against you. >> you don't have to answer, and also they say it's their business because it helps them serve different populations, the same way you ask optionally about race. >> you don't say do you identify with white people? >> that's why i say it's a silly way to ask the question. >> you start off very quietly, people, but i appreciate the conversation. zero dark thirty, hotly anticipated thriller over the hunt of osama bin laden. major buzz and controversy. graphic depictions of brutal interrogations, and a young operative, purportedly modeled on a real cia operative. we have lauren ashburn, daily beast contributor and editor in chief of the daily download.com

to talk about that. it's just a movie. why are people going completely nuts about this? >> it's just a movie. the woman in the center of it, the cia operative, was trashed on the front page of "the washington post" nasaid as bein abrasive, a passed over for promoti promotion. >> it's a dock you drama it's a movie. >> this real person is not able to defend herself. >> but there is a big question whether or not the cia actually gave them all of this information, all of this access. the white house gave her access. we don't know who she is. >> she knows who she is. >> first of all, she could have her friends leak stuff back this is how the press works. she could have her friends leak stuff back. it would be fine, work it out. >> torture, a half an hour of

torture scenes in here. >> and i'm sure that's because they want to tell the story in the most accurate historical context, right? >> i don't know if it's accurate or historical, it's a docudrama. >> it's fun to watch you fight. but seriously, is there a requirement -- you've done movies obviously. is there a requirement that a movie about war has to be accurate. there have been a ton of movies around a real topic. a real experience that have been, you know, taken poetic license on certain things. >> i have never made a fictional movie. but in a fictional movie you can do whatever you want as long as you don't call it a documentary. that said, i think the torture issue goes to the broader issue of why we're in afghanistan, in a sense. i've had this argument with people. and very happy with bin laden was killed. and the point i make, no way we

could have killed bin laden without being in afghanistan, and you won't fly s.e.a.l. team 6 from virginia and kill him. you don't get the intel and forward operating bases. we had to be in afghanistan to do that. the moral question for america, that was a correct decision to be at war in order to kill that person? the finer point, can you torture in order to kill someone you need to get? i don't know what the answer is. >> the filmmaker and cathlin big low are presenting this as a journalistic enterprise. they are not calling it a docudrama. they got an unusual degree of access to cia, white house, which wanted to spin this to a positive movie of obama. >> the positive piece in the center, the woman getting the credit for getting bin laden killed. >> why is there a woman at the center of this movie? >> is it more interesting?

>> wasn't there a woman at the center of the story? based on a real character, right? >> part of a team. and i think she's a heroine, and that's why i come back to the notion she is being trashed and she should be getting a medal. >> i haven't seen "zero dark thirty." can you separate torture from bin laden? how does the movie treat that connection? >> based on critic who's have seen it, they are saying there is a clear implication we would have not gotten bin laden if -- >> torture seems to have worked, softened up the character, the person who eventually gave information. >> investigators are not convinced we would have gotten bin laden. >> you can't say a movie like argo, which goes often declassified information, does not at some point take license and create drama in certain scenes that did not happen. i don't believe that. mississippi burning created

entire characters around a real event. >> i thing about it the woman who gets highlighted at the center, people at the agency who had something to do with it are now starting this whole trash talk, she's this, she's that. >> you can say it's just a movie, but movies like this, it looks like a big box office movie shape perception for a lot of people who don't follow stories that closely. >> that's their fault. go read a newspaper. don't rely on movies as your source of news. >> don't you think organizations like the cia have decided it's in their best interests to put storylines out there like this. >> i don't have to guess at this. a whole bunch of e-mail traffic that shows cia operatives saying we need to pick a winner. this will be big, we need to cooperate. >> if you were in the white house, wouldn't you do this? cooperate and say here is the real side of the story? >> the problem, what are the messages? what message is it trying to send?

the message torture works? everybody could see, if you torture somebody they will -- >> where does it leave you? where does it leave you if we are a country that tortures people. >> do what sebastian does, write nonfiction, the message is only truth. when you venture into fiction and open to criticism. what are you trying to tell us? >> like po >> he says he wants it to be judged as a movie, it's not a documentary. it's a movie, not a documentary. we have to take a short break. still ahead, we'll talk about ambassador susan rice, taken herself out of the running for secretary of state. does that mean that senator john kerry is a shoo-in? a possible candidate from across the aisle. talk about that, next. jaymi's christmas shopping and was looking for gifts at best buy.

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so this morning, we have been reporting that susan rice has withdrawn her name for consideration as secretary of state. repeated republican attacks on her character are shameful. the confirmation process would have been too disruptive.

listen. >> i withdrew my name, i think it's the right thing for the country. and i think it's the right thing for the president. and putting those things together, that makes it the right thing for me and my family. >> will cane, do you think she was pushed to this by republicans, or more at work here? >> i think there is more at work here. but certainly republican opposition in the wake of her -- not testimony, but going out in front of an american audience on sunday shows played a role. >> about benghazi. >> about benghazi. susan rice didn't have a strong well of democratic support behind her anyway. she had been ruled to not be the most diplomatic person in what would be the leading diplomatic post of the united states. >> she had one very important supporter for that post, the president of the united states. >> is this the president showing weakness? as some people suggested? the president put into a corner by republicans who started immediately saying they wouldn't

support her as secretary of state. >> the president is trying to pick the fights he can win. have yyou have to look at what happen with the fiscal cliff debate. the president has to choose where does he have to go on the mat? the fiscal cliff, issue of taxes. or two fights, one on susan rice? >> i think what would happen, the president decided she was probably not the best person to be secretary of state for the country, and for our diplomatic initiatives. she served extremely well at the u.n. and she is a terrific diplomat. but there -- john kerry should be secretary of state. perfect for it, and coming after hillary clinton, you need someone with a big international gravitas. and john kerry will be great. he's in. >> also, a lot of people haven't heard about her until now. john kerry, everyone knows rice,

like for a lot of americans, who is that? and the president was in a position of pushing someone relatively unknown until the controversy. >> we have to take a short break. we'll talk about tv. one of my favorite subjects. changed a lot in the last decade. one of the most popular critics say we can thank the sopranos for that. we'll talk about that. back in just a moment. ything. share "not even close." share "you owe me..." share "just right." the share everything plan. sharable data across 10 devices with unlimited talk and text. get a droid razr m by motorola for $49.99. wooohooo....hahaahahaha!

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welcome back to "starting point." former president george h.w. bush is expected to be home sometime before christmas. he's been in a houston hospital for three weeks recovering from a stubborn bout of bronchitis, 88 years old the oldest living former president. thursday night football, the stumbling bumbling philadelphia eagles, they fumbled the ball four times, they threw an interception but this was the worst. they blocked their own punt. you don't do that in football, that helped them to a 34-13 loss at home. they don't teach you how to do that. if you noticed a change in your tv viewing habits over the years there are what feels like

dozens of award winning shows on right now, "madmen" "breaking bed," "downtown abbi" and it all started with "the sopranos." the book is called "the revolution was televised." nice to have you with us. >> thank you for having me. >> what changed tv drama do you think? >> well, what happened was in the middle to late '90s, so many more channels were producing so much programming the audience fractured. one of the time the goal was we'll get it as big as possible and dumb it down, now the audience is smaller so instead of trying to aim for wide net let's go deep and get something that makes people passionate what they do. hbo was willing to give creators to write it. >> david chase didn't set out to

write a drama, but wanted to make the stakes high enough that viewers would care. the writing has improved so much. when you look at some of the shows we just named there have been business changes, viewers started really to expect some high quality writing in dramas. >> basically the tv dramas on cable in particular over the last 15 years replaced the kinds of movies that adults used to expect to see. now the movies are blockbusters and low budget art films and not a whole lot in between. now if you want serious drama about adults and adult issues and what's going on in america you look to hbo and fx and amc and showtime. >> why is that? i worked at a broadcast station for a long time. i used to wonder why can't we get some of these shows? >> they've tried and there's a few broadcast shows in my book, i write about "lost" and the problem is with broadcast the threshold is higher. fox did a show a couple years

ago called lone star which was basically their attempt to do an amc style show, canceled after two episodes because not enough people watched. >> people embrace an anti-hero in cable than on network, people like the flawed, terribly damaged person manufacturing drugs and stuff like that, you could see networks executives being oh my god, we could never possibly have this show on our air. >> archie bunker was an anti-hero. it happened. >> he did an episode when he runs in the ku klux klan, those are the racist. archie is just ugly and says offensive things. >> i still miss the sopranos. was it the greatest television series either? >> either "the sopranos" or "the wire." >> was the ending the best ending on television ever? >> it is certainly the ending we've talked about the most of any television show ever and i'm still getting arguments about it

to this day. >> simon, he talks about how i real writer wants to do something, envision a story that has a beginning, a middle and an end and seems like a different format than year ago when the goal was to be on tv for as long you can, your show has as many seasons as possible. versus we have an arc and when that story is told we're done. >> one of the things that happened a lot during this period, have producers go to the network heads and say i want to end this show, i've told the story, the producers of "battlestar gallatica" and it's no longer let's drag this out. it's here's the story, tell it in the best way possible in the minimum amount of time and let's go before people get sick of us. >> changing viewing habits, because i watch "homeland" "breaking bad," but something else changed, i watch them all on demand or i stream them.

i rarely watch them when they air. now, it occurs to me that a lot of these are funded by channels by packages where you pay for 100 cable channels and i don't watch 99 of them. if we move to ala carte do these series continue? >> that's what i don't know. if people start cord cutting, the networks have made things so easy to watch, if people say i don't need my cable, i just want internet the money may not be there for the shows. netflix is starting to produce their own shows, one called "house of cards" with kevin spacey that's their attempt to be the next hbo. >> i shot something for that. i'm so excited, in march it comes out. >> yes. >> the book is called "the revolution was televised." alan sepinwall nice to have you with us. >> thank you very much. still ahead the story of some basketball players who lost their high school basketball

game by 105 points. it was 107-2. so was that bad sportsmanship at work or just good old-fashioned competition? we'll talk to the losing coach and her team from bloomington south high school about the big loss, straight ahead. [ singing christmas carols in background ] aunt sally's singing again. it's a tradition, honey. [ singing christmas carols ] mmmm. [ female announcer ] make new traditions with pillsbury grands! cinnamon rolls. it's lots of things.

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down to the wire, the president and the speaker of the house meet for just under an hour but still no deal on the fiscal cliff as congress goes on

vacation today. any chance we'll have an agreement before the year ends? plus the unbelievable score of a high school basketball game, it was 107-2. was it a lesson in bad sportsmanship? hear from the losing coach and the players straight ahead. is there a way to get the jobless rate down to 6.5%? a look at the federal reserve's goal and what it will take to us get there. sending help but not all in, the u.s. sending patriot missile batteries and 400 u.s. troops to turkey to guard against syria. is this a first step in a bigger involvement. and aidan begin's new movie "allegiance." it's friday, december 14th and "starting point" begins right now. sebastian junger, author of new ebook called "a world made of

blood" we'll talk about that book in a moment, will cain, columnist for theblaze.com and a writer for newworker.com, richard socarides, everyone wearing dark this morning. >> i had the pastel, the bright pink but sorry. >> stuck cwith navy. america inching closer to the fiscal cliff, 18 days we go over, that means triggering massive tax hikes and spending cuts all at the same time. the house of representatives set to go home for the holidays today and yesterday the president and speaker boehner metaphor 50 minutes and then released a statement that didn't say a whole heck of a lot but both called the discussion frank and said the lines of communication remain open. our senior congressional c correspondent dana bash is here. forget the christmas plans you're probably not going to be enjoying christmas this year?

>> nobody thinks they're going home for christmas, if they do maybe for a day and come back to washington. i've been talking to sources in both parties this morning about that meeting yesterday with the president, and the speaker, which did not go very long, 50 minutes and did not go all that well. what we need are new proposals and coming together and i'm told by both parties they really restated their positions. what seems to be going on is frankly i think both sides are trying to run out the clock. the republicans they know the democrats have leverage and the speaker is just waiting potentially to the last minute so he can say i did my best, we have to raise more revenue and on the flipside, the democrats the president knows he has leverage and he's running out the clock. it's win/win for him. if at the end of the day the republicans cave on tax rates, great. if not, and god forbid we go over the cliff he knows all the

polling shows republicans will take the blame. >> we move away toward polling and a big fix for the benefit of the american people as a whole. i know you've had a chance to talk to two former senate majority leaders each on the other side of the aisle. >> senates lott and daschle, they worked on many issues together and they still think that it is possible to get a deal, it just has to do with the timing. listen to what they said. >> i still am convinced and hopeful at least that they're going to come to an agreement. there is an argument that you don't want to make it too early because that gives people that may not be too happy with it more time to undermine it so the tempo and the timing is important. >> i've heard people say in the last couple of days, republicans and democrats said the time has come for us to put our country ahead of our party, and that's really what it's going to take, putting the country ahead of the party. >> exactly what you were just

saying, soledad, the key difference between now and then, about a decade ago, is both parties, members of congress of both parties are very concerned not just about general voters but about getting primary from within their own party and that is why it is so much more difficult to get a deal. >> dana bash thank you very much. lots of people have been giving the president some advice, dan glickman was a former congressman, served as secretary of agriculture under bill clinton. he writes this in "the hufgston post." "i have a humble suggestion for the president to give this debate a noble and unifying congress. the president should schedule an address so he can articulate to congress and the american people who what he with do better than most, are we still a nation sacrificing a little for the greater good?"

why do you think a presentation before a joint session of congress versus the two of them sitting in a room and continuing to try to hash out a deal is a better way to go? >> soledad the issues are very big here. they have to do with the future of the country, jobs, economic security and these issues are being debated like it's another political campaign, a question of power, who is going to win and who is going to lose and i don't think the american people really understand what's going on there, other than washington seems to be at it's games again like it played before the election. only the president has the bully pulpit. while i generally agree with the concepts he's put forward, substantively i think he's the only person who can talk to the american people, paint a picture and create a narrative why we're going through all this, totally absent from this discussion. most americans think it's a tribal battle in washington not affecting their lives in any way. >> painting a picture and what you wrote the specifics are less

important than the big picture rationale and one of the big points of contention is lack of specifics. what are we actually thinking about cutting, exactly what will the tax rate be, things like that, i think people would argue that specifics, lack of spervegs has been a big problem in this debate. >> that's a question of leadership and both the president and the congress have to come up with those specifics. i'm reminded of the kennedy address, john kennedy, ask what you can do for your country. somebody has to ask the american people, the wealthy and others as well, the whole society whether they're willing to sacrifice for the good of the country to maintain america's strength in its economy around the world. nobody's done that yet, and we've seen proposals like the simpson-bowles proposal or domenici prf ri domenici-rivlin. i think somebody has to ask the american people, here are the

facts, here is what happens if we don't do anything, that's not good for america and republicans and democrats and has to bring the american people into the debate. so far this has been an inside washington debate. >> hi, congressman, it's richard socarides. i think if we all think about the speech that bill clinton gave at the democratic conventi convention, if barack obama could go before congress and give that kind of a speech now i think it would really help him and the democrats win the day in these negotiations and i think that's the kind of thing you were suggesting, right? >> it is but i think he has to be careful not to give a partisan speech. this is a bigger speech than this. this has to do with the future of the republic. after all if we can't even add or subtract tower deficit into some reasonable way so the american people have some predictability and fiscal sanity nothing is going to work. he's the only one who can articulate this to the american people but it has to be done in a way that's not engaged in political gamesmanship. >> i'm not a cynic.

sometimes i am but today not particularly. i don't see how a speech somehow brings the american people who feel disconnected with a fiscal cliff discussion. what could i do? you do a very moving, say an amazing speech, moving, i laugh, i cry, i move, to do what? >> these conditions are not a mystery. these are the same lines from the same people we've been hearing for 14 months. i'm not quite sure how speaking to them in front of a different group of people makes any difference. >> i'd love to throw to dan, i'm not sure of the president's desire to do what you describe. which is to mix up the fiscal cliff and our long-term debt situation. i've seen no desire coming from the white house to deal with both issues at the same time. >> first of all i recognize it's maybe rather late to do a speech today. the president just can't do a speech without getting the speaker's permission to do that kind of thing but if you look at the issue bigger than just what the tax rates are going to be or what the entitlement cuts are

going to be, this has to do with the fiscal stability and strength of america, to be the leader in the world. these are fundamental issues, somebody has to articulate the significance what have we're talking about to the american people so they understand it, and it has to be done in a nonpolitical, nonpartisan way. >> dan glickman joining us, former democratic congressman and former agriculture secretary under president clinton, nice to have you with us sir. >> thank you very much. john berman has an update on stories. >> big news about syria's ongoing civil war and a new role for the united states. defense secretary leanne panetta signed an order for two patriot missile batteries and 400 american troops. this move was expected as the rebellion in syria destabilizes the assad regime.

nick patton walon walsh, what i pick snur. >> the germans are expected to contribute patriot missiles. we're looking at seeing a variety of nato nations contribute troops to the area, the u.s. not sure where they'll station there. this brings u.s. troops into the volume tire area. let me give you the back story, about two or three months ago there were exchanges of fire when the syrian army was accused of shooting into turkey, trouble concerned they may try to draw turkey into the war. leon pa net ta saying there is a plan in place in case the assad regime uses chemical weapons.

nato says they're there purely to defend turkey. >> nick paton walsh this morning. president obama will meet with susan rice this morning, withdrawi ining her name to rep hillary clinton as secretary of state. >> i didn't want to see a contirmco confirmation process that was prolonged, politicized, very distracting and very disrippive because there are so many things we need to get done as a country. >> rice was repeatedly criticized by senate republicans for statements she made about the cause of the deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi in september. she originally said the violence started over anger about that anti-muslim film. live look at a rally in cairo in egypt this in support of president mohamed morsi ahead of tomorrow's referendum on the new constitutional proposal. members of the opposition say the discussion is too islamist

and infringes on minority rights, they're apparently protesting outside the presidential palace right now. security guards at new york's jfk airport could walk off the job next week just in time for the holiday travel rush. there are 300 guards that handle traffic in front of the terminals and help secure tarmac gates so happy holidays, travelers. look at this picture of a high school basketball scoreboard, yes, 107-2, that is not a mistake. there are some calls for the winning coach, the winning coach to be fired for allowing such a crushing loss. we'll hear from the losing team's coach and their players, that's coming up next.

welcome back, everybody. so we want to start this morning showing you a scoreboard. you're not misreading the score of the basketball game, 107-2, the final score of a girl's high school basketball game, the bloomington south lady panthers won, they defeated the arlington

high school golden knights, the knights are made up of a number of young women who never played on a varsity team. the sign was really an indication of bad sportsmanship. team members join us along with their coach. nice to have you guys with us. we appreciate it. i'm going to start with you, coach, if i can. tell me how everybody is feeling after what not only was it a devastating loss, everybody was talking about it, it made headlines all over the place. how are you guys feeling about that? >> well, we were, we weren't shocked the next morning but then again we were in shock. it's a humbling experience and at the end of the day we're blessed because we have one another and we just go back to the grind on the basketball court the next morning, so it was shocking news but we got over it and we just are back on the ground on the basketball court. >> briolette you're a freshman

at arlington. have you played basketball before? what went wrong that the score was so lopsided? >> yes, i've played basketball before and i think what went wrong was that we just, it was a struggle because not everybody on the team has played before and this was a varsity game, and it was more competitive because they've played longer than most of us and they just work, they work very hard and we just haven't played before and it was probably really hard for all of us as a team. >> coach, let me ask you a question some of the fallout people were saying there should have been a mercy rule meaning they should have figured out how to after a certain number of points were scored played the game differently, maybe the opposing team stop shooting on you, maybe stop the game, whatever. sort of various versions of what should have happened. letting the game go on so long that was really bad sportsmanship. do you see it that way from the

opposing team? >> no, i don't see it that way. i was asked about the mercy rule and i do not believe in the mercy rule. i just believe in character and this is the game of basketball, and i believe that all rules and regulations should stay the same, but i believe that this is a time for the opposing team or ourselves, whichever way the game is going if it's a lopsided score that the team works on something they've never worked on before and therefore that will milk time off the clock eventually and you won't have to go through the nurturing phase as i have been with my girls but nonetheless it's been a blessing. >> so i have a question. who scored the two points that you got? >> right here, free-throws.

>> that's your hero. >> and you built from there. >> that was it. you guys have lost 23 games. you've really had a tough time and the school was taken over because of some academic issues so there's a level, everybody has to have a c grade point average on the team or they're not allowed to play. it's been a challenge for you. mike epps the actor came in, gave a talk to the team and said listen there's a lot of growth that can be had basically in losing, when you lose, you can come back from that in a big way. what's the strategy coach now and how are you bringing your girls along, your young ladies along for the next games? >> well, ever since the game had ended and all this has come about, our minds have not changed. they are the same as if this was the first game of the season, just staying humble, working hard, continuous effort every single day and keeping a smile

on our face and basically still getting after it in the classroom first and we just haven't changed who we are and how we do things, and i just tell my girls every single day, it's about getting better, growing relationships and building our character at the end of the day, so we haven't changed anything. >> i think that's true. i completely support that, and yes, in the classroom first and foremost, and then on the basketball court after that. coach ebony jackson joining us, briella thompson and her teammates joining us from the arlington high school golden knights women's basketball team. they have a great school, i had a chance to tour it, a great restart and focusing on academics. >> one of life's greatest lessons you're not going to avoid failure and adversity, it's what happens after that. here you go, here is your opportunity. >> love that. you put that so well, will cain. we have to take a short break. is there a way to get the unemployment rate to 5%? look at what the federal reserve

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this year. starting to be some worries going over the fiscal cliff we'll see a return of some of the gains. ben bernanke says the fed stimulus will continue until the jobless rate falls to 6.5%, a full percentage point from where we are right now. to get there in one year one economist told cnn money we need to create 270,000 jobs a month. to get there in two years we need 200,000 jobs per month. the growth right now about 150,000 a month so growth at that rate is unlikely. it could mean at this rate it could take until 2018 to reach 6.5% unemployment. if hiring stays like it right now the job won't turn into a pre-recession 5% until 2025. >> bernanke is saying they'll keep the rate at that level until then. >> they'll keep interest rates low and keep stimulating until we get back to 6.5%, so that

means the fed will keep propping things up as long as they can. still ahead on "starting point" reminding people of the trayvon martin case, the 17-year-old shot to death in florida, a man said that apparently the music in the car, the boys were riding, was too loud and there's a chance the fact that the shooter could use the controversial stand your ground law as his defense. we'll talk to the parents of the young man who was shot and killed, jordan davis' parents will join to us talk about that case coming up. and a wounded warrior, was he mistreated on a recent delta flight? what witnesses say happened to him, a u.s. veteran, that has them outraged, ahead as well. again? it's embarrassing it's embarrassing! we can see you carl. we can totally see you. come on you're better than this...all that prowling around. yeah, you're the king of the jungle. have you thought about going vegan carl? hahaha!! you know folks who save hundreds of dollars by switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy?

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scottrader streaming quotes. it's another reason more investors are saying... [ all ] i'm with scottrade. welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." john berman has a look at the day's top stories for us. >> a teen is charged with attacking a medal of honor

recipient. kentucky state police say dakota mayer got in a fight with a party. it's not clear what the fight was about. he was given the nation's highest military honor after he risked his life to save three dozen troops caught in a firefight. president obama is talking about legalized pot since the first time colorado and washington state approved it. the president tells abc's barbara walters he does not support widespread legalization at this point. the big news as for going after users in the states that have legalized marijuana he says "it would not make sense for us to see a top priority as going after recreational users in states that have determined it's legal." it doesn't sound like he'll be going after people smoking pot. when asked about his own pot use he mentioned in his memoir "dreams of my father" he said there are many things he regrets doing, that substance abuse

isn't good for kids and that it's something of course he wants to discourage. some veterans are angry with delta airlines for what they feel is disrespectful treatment given to a fellow veteran. marine lance corporal christian brown lost both legs and "the washington post" says veteran on the flight from delta, he was clumsily wheeled to the back of the pain, he was pained and humiliated and when the crew was asked to move brown to first class they refused. delta says the incident is under investigation and that service members are always held in high regard. talk about putting people on the spot, a couple of students at byu had a little fun with students staging a fake christmas survey underneath some surprise mistletoe that came down from the sky. they got a few pecks out of it and one open palmed slap. take a look. >> mistletoe like over the door. >> i guess so. >> or would you? >> would i?

>> yes. >> i have never to done it. >> but you would do it. >> i would do it. >> okay. >> oh! >> whoa, hey. >> merry christmas, thank you. >> all right, i'll go for it. >> okay. >> great. best i've ever taken. >> it seems like it's going so well but then autograph, i tell you. everyone can't be a winner on that. that's cute, very cute. we turn to a story we've been following now for several weeks and it is a tough, tough story, the man who killed 17-year-old jordan davis in a florida parking lot is scheduled to appear in court on monday. he is 45 years old, his name is michael dunn and he is charged with first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder for firing into a car where davis and three of his friends were sitting. dunn says he felt threatened by the teenagers, after he asked them to turn down their music,

so it was basically over loud music and that he shot them in self-defense, and there is some word his first attorney said that they might focus on florida's controversial stand your ground law in his defense. now since then he has switched attorneys. joining to us talk about this is lucia mcbeth and ron davis, jordan davis' parents and their attorney as well john phillips. it has been a horrific three weeks for you. i cannot imagine how awful it has been, if you can, ms. mcbeth, tell me how you found out that jordan had been killed. what happened? >> a phone call from his father, my husband and i were in chicago for thanksgiving and i happened to come up to the bedroom and i saw ron's name pop up, and i knew the moment i saw his name, that late at night, i knew it had to do with jordan.

>> did you know it had to be bad? >> i knew in my spirit it was not good. i knew that it could not be good that late at night for him to be calling. >> when did you, mr. davis, learn the details of what had happened in the parking lot? because the shooting was horrific, but the details around the shooting awful as well. >> yes. its first call i got was from the best friend of my son, and he had phoned his mother while in the car and his mother called me and i rushed to the hospital to see about my son and when i found out that he had been shot and killed and the way that we been shot and killed, i got home and told my wife what happened, and it was the most excruciating thing. i mean, it just tears at your gut and tears at your heart all at the same time and you're

unsteady and then to make that call to her, and just to, just to try to soften the blow, you know, just a little bit for her, because that's our only child, the only child we were going to have together and he was a special child. he was just great, a great, great child, and we'll never recover from it, and this gentleman has just torn the fabric of our family apart. >> before we talk about your son, let's talk a little bit about the case. mr. dunn says, he had a concealed weapons permit. he took, we know, the gun out of the glove compartment, fired eight shots into the car and his attorney, first attorney, he's now swapped attorneys said they might focus on the stand your ground law and mr. phillips you can jump in if you feel like this is a question that needs to go to you. here is what the first attorney has said about what happened that night. let's play that. >> kill that mother [ bleep ], you dead [ bleep ], and he sees

that much of a shotgun coming up over the rim of the suv, which is up higher than his jetta and all he sees are heavily tinted front windows that are up, and the back windows that are down and the car has at least four black men in it, and he doesn't know how old anybody is, he doesn't know anything, but he knows a shotgun when he sees one. >> so that's her explanation of what happened. is this case about race? is this case about loud music? what is this case really about, do you think? >> it's about loud music and it's also about anger, about having a concealed weapon in your car, knowing you have it and feel bold enough to use it because you're being shielded in the state of florida, they tell you if you have a concealed weapon these are some of the things you can do if you feel you're threatened in any way, then you are allowed to use your weapon, so he was angry, and he heard loud music, of course you got 17-year-olds, they don't do

what you say if you're in a public place. you're not their parent and he decided that, well, you know what? if you don't turn the music down i'm going to take my weapon out and shoot at the car at least eight times at the car in a gas station. >> the stand your ground law says you're justified to use deadly force if you reasonably believe that such force is necessary to prevent eminent death or great bodily harm to yourself. you were going to say? >> if it is about race for mr. dunn he's the only one that knows that. we're not going to use that, because that doesn't justify anything that has happened for jordan, it doesn't justify anything that has happened for trayvon martin, it doesn't justify anything that happens for anyone else that falls victim under this law. it just doesn't. so he's the only one who understands and knows where he was and what was in his heart at that time, and he has to deal with that. >> did you worry about jordan

when the trayvon martin case happened? i've had so many parents say to me -- >> absolutely. >> oh my god that could have been my kid. >> absolutely, you think about that all the time. as we've said before when your children grow up and go on, you have to give them a freedom, chance and opportunity to be who they are and they make friend and do things, there's always the undercurrent, always a little bit of that fear that you're concerned because you can't be there with them, you can't hold their hand anymore. you've trained them and you've done everything that you can do but they do have to go out in the world. you do your best that you can to protect them. >> soledad i'd like to really say that i just want the community and the world, america to know that when you allow people under this shield stand your ground you're putting in jeopardy your kids that have nothing to do with the two people that are facing each other. you have people, the kids are playing hop scotch, kids are jumping rope, riding bikes, your nephew, your niece and two people decide to draw down on

each other, they're going to hit anything that's in the way, so america has to know that it's not just the two people involved, it's the people that have nothing to do with the 10-year-old kid, the 10-year-old girl, somebody's niece, somebody's daughter, that happened to be playing near the two people that decided to draw on each other. >> it's unclear if he's going to in fact use the stand your ground law. the second attorney that has come in has not indicated that either way but what would you like to see for him? >> that's the problem with the stand your ground law, based upon a reasonable person's standard and the only witness to the reasonable person whether that person was being reasonable was now killed in every one of these cases and that's a major problem. >> what would you like to see happen? mr. dunn goes to court on monday, arraignment. >> we have actually already begun to fight against the stand your ground laws. we've started www.walkwithjordan.com and on that site, you can go and sign the federal petition to go to

washington, we're going to washington to make amends to the federal stand your ground laws. we have to do it federally because that mandates all the states to take a look at this, not just the state of florida. so we've already begun that walk, wal walk, www.walkwithjordan.com. we only need 25,000 signatures, by the end of this month, for washington to take a look at it. >> thank you for talking with us this morning. i know this is a terrible, horrific thing to have to discuss and something i'm sure as a parent you can't even imagine. >> yes, thank you very much. >> lucia mcbath, thank you. we have to take a short break this morning. ahead we're going to talk about a young journalist who ventures into war torn africa and puts his life on the line to get the truth, the new book called "a world made of blood" it's incredible he'll be here to discuss that coming up next. initiated.

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welcome back, everybody. sebastian junger is better known for being out in the field, facing danger, writing about it. he's a best selling book like "the perfect storm" "war" and his latest work of fiction is an ebook called "the world made of blood" and tells the story of a young american journalist trying to survive his latest assignment which is a war-torn country in africa. talk to me a little bit about why you decided to write this story and put it out as an ebook and also some of the really what's behind some of the other projects you're really passionate about, helping journalists like the guys you talk about in the story. >> i've always been a journalist, covered a lot of civil wars as a journalist and

after sierra leone was my first civil war in africa, it was incredibly terrifying. i was at a situation at a checkpoint we were stopped by rebel forces, stepped out of the jungle and stopped us at gunpoint and for about 15 minutes it seemed like they were going to kill everybody. i spent 15 minutes trying to get myself ready for that. it didn't happen obviously. i wrote my story and several years later i kept think being that really traumatic episode and thought i want to write a piece of fiction that goes to what happened with me and keeps going, and how would i react, how would people react and so that was why i came to write fiction. it's not something most journalists do but it was an interesting experience. it's a short story and i put it online because i wrote this in '04 but now that's how you reach people is online, it's on byliner and we're getting an incredible response. people are really reading it. it goes to the dangers of the

job. people in the last year more journalists have been killed this past year than several previous years combined. it's incredibly dangerous now. >> especially for the freelancers. we all get in, if you work for cnn we go through this training if you're going to be in a war zone. if you're a freelancer you show up with a backpack and have to navigate and learn as you go, terribly dangerous. >> the first war i was in, in bosnia and '93, went there with a backpack, sleeping bag and notebooks. that's how i broke in. i didn't have an assignment. in the arab spring it's wide open for that opportunity for young people and that's why the mortality rates sore high. i started an organization called reports instructed in saving colleagues. >> risc. >> to provide free combat medical training to freelance war reporters. i had a good friend tim hea

hetherrington, but he just bled out. had i been there i would have watched him die, couldn't help him. i started aa training program, three session ace year to train freelance war reporters how to save lives. >> it's amazing how many things do you in terms of nonprofits and things after stories that have touched you. this is not the first thing you've done "the perfect storm" you were moved to making a difference in addition to being the reporter around it. is that a way to get your head around all of the things you see and deal with? >> journalists have to stay out of the story and if it's a painful story there's a moral anguish there. non-profits are one way to deal with the anguish. >> thanks for talking about it with us. the ebook is called "a world made of blood." sebastian, thanks. we have to take a short break. the new u.s. movie, we talk to aidan quinn about "allegiance." ♪

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in 2004, national guard troops were sent to iraq. thousands of men and women were facing a year of combat in a foreign country. new film called "allegiance" aidan quinn plays a battalion commander who has to prepare a part-time unit for combat. >> gentlemen, the deployment order is out and i've instructed the sergeant major to lock down the base. in less than 48 hours, we will be inside one of the most dangerous combat zones in the world. >> the film explores issues of loyalty versus duty and is resonating is veterans. aidan quinn nice to have you here. >> nice to be here.

>> allegiance is a military film but it isn't just for people interested in the military. >> i just loved the script, the characters. the gentleman, the young man that wrote it and directed it did a phenomenal job and talking to him, he convinced me that he was going to do a good job and indeed he did. >> he's a veteran and he surrounded himself the entire movie, people funding it and helping out on it were all veterans. what kind of expertise do you think they brought to make it better and more realistic? >> you see a tremendous amount of expertise in all the characters, whether it's, you know, they do great work, they were trained by navy s.e.a.l.s and people that were in the military, we had military always there, so they just made sure they kept it real. >> is it a true story? >> i think it's based on some of the things that happened to the director. i don't know how much of it is actually true, but it's based on a lot of things that happened to

mike connors, the director. >> it's the story of allegiance, when a fellow soldier has to go awol because he's trying to see his son who is dying and of course he's a part-time soldier who now suddenly has become a full time soldier in another country. i want to show a little clip of that. >> do you honestly think i want to let you walk out of here without even a slap on the wrist? hell no! but these are the decisions i have to make for the good of the unit. for the good of the men. that's all, lieutenant. >> do you think we're seeing more movies out of hollywood on the military? >> i don't think so. i think hollywood is very afraid of any military films because they're tough for the audience because we have conflicted feelings about our involvement in iraq and afghanistan. i think the great thing that has

changed is we have 100%, almost seems like 100% approval of our veterans, and support for our veterans. i know that is a huge improvement. >> right, so where there is conflict it's not over the individuals. >> right. >> most people look at them as heroes regardless of how they feel about the spending or the war itself. >> exactly. >> this film is being released first on video on demand. >> um-hum. >> then will go into movie theaters which seems to me to be a complete flip of how it used to work. >> right. it's exactly the opposite of how it used to work but now how it's done on good low budget films. the idea is to get word of mouth, get it talked about on the internet and then you release it so you're actually getting free, if you will, publicity by getting people talking about it on the internet, and it's quite successful. >> interesting, getting all the people watching it on video on demand to be your marketers to drive people to go the theaters. aidan quinn, nice to have you. >> very nice to be here thank

you. >> you bet. the movie comes out december 28th in new york, january 4th in los angeles. we're back in a moment. they see more than themselves. so we celebrate our year-end with the "share the love" event. get a great deal on a new subaru and 250 dollars goes to your choice of five charities. by the end of this, our fifth year, our total can reach almost 25 million dollars. it's a nice reflection on us all. now through january 2nd. it's lots of things. all waking up. ♪ becoming part of the global phenomenon we call the internet of everything. ♪ trees will talk to networks will talk to scientists about climate change. cars will talk to road sensors will talk to stoplights about traffic efficiency.

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will cain will start us off "the end point." >> sebastian was saying "world of blood" was inspired by 15 minutes in sierra leone, i hope cotell us more how the 15 minutes played out. >> i was standing face-to-face with someone who was going to, said they were going to kill me and or seemed like they would and i tried to get myself ready and the main thing, i didn't have any grand thoughts. i felt very bad about my family and i was worried it was going to hurt was pretty much, it was pretty simple. >> what happened at the end? obviously you're here to tell the tale so you survived it. what happened? >> they didn't shoot. they eventually let us go and i don't know why. there was a lot of yelling and threatening of cocking